Avastin Shows Promise For Brain Cancer

November 18th, 2007 | by David Reiner, M.D. |

 

 U.S. biotechnology company Genentech Inc  said on Sunday its blockbuster cancer drug, Avastin, showed encouraging results for patients with the most aggressive form of brain cancer.

In a Phase II trial, the drug, administered alone or with chemotherapy, demonstrated an encouraging six-month survival rate for patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common and aggressive type of brain cancer.

Genentech said 36 percent of patients treated with Avastin alone and 51 percent treated with a combination of the drug and chemotherapy lived without the disease advancing within six months.

“Historical estimates suggest that only 15 percent of patients with this aggressive type of brain cancer live without their cancer progressing within six months,” Timothy Cloughesy, the lead investigator for the study, said in a statement.

The five-year survival rate for patients with GBM is 3 percent, Genentech said, citing American Cancer Society data.

Avastin is a novel agent used to treat many cancers that works by destroying the blood vessels that feed tumors.  Oncologists have began to use this drug for many common cancers, in combination with other chemotherapy.

Reference: http://www.reuters.com/article/health-SP/idUSN1837427020071119

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